A typical pet drinking bowl is a circular container, often of pottery or molded from a plastic material, having a wide base to give good stability to the bowl, so as to minimize the likelihood of spillage. Owners of pets, particularly dogs, like their pets to accompany them when traveling in a vehicle. Additionally, communities have come to rely upon dogs as the daily partner of police officers. The police dog spends most of its day riding in the back seat of a vehicle while awaiting the call of duty and requires a constant supply of fluids to remain healthy. Usually, the dog is provided water by the use of a bowl placed on the floor of the vehicle. However, one vehicle turn may result in the water splashing over the side of the bowl and onto the floor. Additionally, failure to refill the bowl may be detrimental to the dog's health. Continued refilling of the bowl, if the attendant officer remembers, may result in a soaked floor and unnecessary distractions. These problems are not limited to automobiles but are inherent in transportation by commercial and private aviation, boating, campers, and so forth.
If the typical pet drinking bowl containing water is placed in a car, almost inevitably the water will spill when the vehicle is in motion. Various sized bowls have been used in an attempt to minimize spillage. Even if the bowl is only half full, typical vehicle motions such as starts, stops, turns and bumps can cause the water to slosh, creating waves which exceed the height of the bowl rim. Spills can soak into the vehicle carpet resulting in the growth of molds, mildew, odors, and rust of the vehicle body. Previous efforts to reduce spills in vehicles have focused primarily on beverage containers for human use and little effort has been dedicated to pet water containers.
One solution to this problem is to provide water to the pet only when the vehicle is stopped, and remove the water when the travel resumes. While this method certainly avoids sloshes and spills, the pet may not receive adequate water. Pets are often excited at the start and end of a trip and may be too preoccupied with the people and events to drink adequate water. A dehydrated pet may also drink too much water too fast resulting in the animal becoming sick. In addition, on long trips, infrequent water stops may result in poor time coordination with the pet's need for water and need to urinate.
Additionally, many animals have a preference for drinking flowing water. Flowing water may provide a number of advantages, including improved taste and quality, more dissolved oxygen, which can make the water taste better as well as provide potential health benefits. Further, such flowing water encourages the pet to drink more liquids. Increased water intake can help reduce problems with the pet's kidneys or urinary tract.
Additionally, pets will often demonstrate a preference for cold, e.g., recently poured, water and clinical tests have shown that cooler water helps lower the pets overall body temperature. So there is clearly a need for a refrigerated pet-feeding dish to thermally control food and water temperature at all times.
Pet fountains are well known in the art and generally include a spout or other water-directing means for providing a continuous flow of water from a reservoir to a container such that the pet is able to drink either directly from the flowing water stream or from the container. Such fountains may contain a plurality of containers or basins, can occupy a large amount of floor space and are open to permit easy access by the pet. Typically, they are stationary and placed on the floor in the residence or kennel. These fountains are designed to be stationary in the pet owner's residence. Typically, if they are moved, sometimes even to a minor extent, water flows out of the fountain to the surrounding area onto the floor. Such pet fountains typically use electronic pumps to pump the water through the device and may have a means for filtering the water.
To Applicant's knowledge there have been no pet fountains that are designed for use in a moving vehicle, such as an automobile or recreation vehicle.
The following are references that may (but not necessarily) be relevant to the claimed invention herein:
US Publication No. 2013/0087102 to Lipscomb describes a pet fountain that has circulating water that is continuously filtered and pumped through the fountain. The fountain includes a basin and a cover. A pump assembly is housed between the basin and cover, and circulates water through the pet fountain by pumping the water from the basin to an upper drinking bowl of the cover. The water spills out of the upper drinking back to the basin. An opening is provided between the cover and the basin which allows a pet to drink directly from the basin in addition to the upper drinking bowl of the cover.
US Publication No. 2012/0216751 to Rowe describes a watering device for pets that includes a bowl that includes a dispensing unit and means to filter the water flowing through the bowl.
US Publication No. 2007/0272163 to Leary describes a pet feeding bowl with an attached splashguard that acts as a retention barrier to protect walls, floors and other adjacent surfaces from over spray, splashes, and splatters that occur when a pet feeds from the bowl.
US Publication No. 20070227456 to Borey describes a refrigerated pet feeding assembly with a removable thermally conductive dish designed to contain food, water or both that is continuously cooled by a thermoelectric Peltier-effect conditioning source and powered by an external DC voltage source such as a wall mount power supply or battery.
US Publication No. 2006/0060149 to Skowronski describes a spill-resistant fluid container that includes a chamber for holding a quantity of fluid. Within the chamber is a plurality of cavities. The cavities are circumferentially arranged so as to define a central chamber area. Each of the cavities has at least one opening so that the plurality of cavities is in restricted fluid communication with the central chamber area.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,600,486 to Ellis describes a drinking bowl for a pet adapted for use in a moving vehicle that has a base section which defines a liquid reservoir having a cylindrical side wall and a removable in-turned rim at the upper end thereof. An inner section has sufficient buoyancy to float on liquid in the reservoir, the inner section being a close sliding fit within the side wall and having a dished upper surface with a central liquid-receiving area. A plurality of liquid feed holes extends through the inner section to permit liquid to flow into the central area from which a pet may drink.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,032,824 to Barrow describes a spill-less wave bowl for use by pets and small children. The wave bowl is designed to prevent contents such as liquids in the bowl from spilling out over the edge of the bowl and from the bowl overturning. The spill-less wave bowl includes an inner bowl snapped to the inside of an outer shell. The inner bowl includes a bowl base in a lower portion of the bowl, sloping sides extending upwardly and outwardly from the bowl base and a circular bowl flange with snap arm disposed around an edge of an upper portion bowl. When the wave bowl is hit or bumped, any liquid therein rides up against the inside of the inner bowl and into the interior concave-shaped cavity in the upper portion of the shell forming a wave which returns to the interior of the inner bowl.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,960,740 to Pelsor describes a splash and spill-resistant container for holding a fluid for consumption by an animal. The container forms a cavity with a top access aperture which defines an inverted channel. A partition divides the cavity into first and second chambers. The partition curves downward from the periphery substantially to the floor of the container and is provided with a flow aperture, thereby allowing fluid communication between the first and second chambers. A valve is also provided to release air from the second chamber. After filling the container with a volume of fluid, the container may be subjected to lateral jarring or inverted without spilling the fluid contained therein.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,791,287 to Gruber describes a vessel (bowl) for transportation of water for animals that has resistance to splashing while offering easy access to the liquid. Most of the water within the vessel is below a substantially concave floating dish, while a smaller portion of water is within the dish; the animal accesses only the smaller portion. Water flows from below the dish to above through an opening in the dish. The floating dish prevents the splash of water by floating against an arched lid, blocking the flow of water, and by directing the flow of water under the lid, made possible by protrusions in the lid.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,297,504 to Carrico describes a spill-resistant container having an automatic refill feature and a low profile design that allows the animal ease of access to drinking water and resists tipping of the container. Water within the container is prevented from spilling by use of an annular housing that maintains water spillage from an upwardly facing substantially concave internal dish within the housing. The dish defines at least one aperture therein to allow spilled water to re-enter the dish for consumption by the animal. Apparatus may be provided for automatically or manually actuating a flow of water from an external reservoir to refill the dish to a predetermined level.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,286,546 to Moore describes an anti-splash animal watering container including a water holding dish or bowl having straight sides in combination with an apertured disc which floats upon the liquid carried therein. The floating disc floats in the liquid with a substantial portion extending above the liquid level. At its center, an aperture is located through which an animal has access to the liquid in the bowl. This aperture may be changed to enable the use of the watering device for different sized animals and still retain its anti-splash characteristics.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,749,063 to Buffum describes a pet feeding dish that resists tipping and spilling. The dish is weighted and is a pivotally supported bowl or container with a turned-in lip for reducing spillage during use.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,152,576 to Faurot describes an anti-splash watering bowl for animals.
Canadian Patent 2,708,704 to Danie describes a travel mug for small animals, e.g., cats, dogs, to drink fluids while travelling in vehicle. The mug is designed to fit in a cup holder in the vehicle and to eliminate spill and waste of the fluids inside the travel mug during the travel or the drinking process. The mug consists of two parts—a bottom part with anti-splash features that fits into a standard cup holder or beverage holder and an off center top part wider than the bottom part also with anti-splash features. The fluid only resides in the bottom part of the mug and the animal's head enters the top part of the mug and the animal's tongue extends into the bottom part to lick up the fluid.
The pet watering device of this invention provides substantially continuously-moving, drinking water, optionally filtered, heated and/or cooled, that can be used in a moving vehicle without fear of water falling out of the device into the vehicle.